Nearly 5,000 companies employ more than 81,000 people, according to The Value of Bioscience in Growing Jobs and Improving Quality of Life 2016, a study released last month by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the world's largest biotech trade association, and TEConomy Partners, an innovation research firm.

The Lone Star State ranks among the U.S. leaders in bioscience jobs, R&D expenditures, funding from the National Institutes of Health and venture capital investments.